Saturday, May 31, 2008

Q.E.D. - Update

Is the Democratic Party fit to govern? I rest my case.

And what can one say about Howard Dean? Nice guy? Good doctor? Inspiring footnote?

Whatever Homeric epithets one might apply, “good DNC chairman” isn’t among them. If the Democratic Party were a corporation and he were the CEO, he’d be out on his ass, and the shareholders would be screaming for a new Board.

For the past several months – ever since Super Tuesday, at least – Chairman Dean has had just one crucial thing to accomplish. It has been obvious to everybody that what was needed was to fix the mess he allowed Donna Brazile to bully him into vis a vis Florida and Michigan. The resolution of this managerial snafu should never have taken this long – but if it was going to do so, if it was going to wait until today, this session should simply have been kabuki. A solution that protected and enhanced the Party should have been worked out well in advance, and the staging of that solution on national television today should have been orchestrated for maximum brand repair and enhancement.

Instead, we got the Keystone Kops. It was painfully obvious to America that nothing had been worked out. It took a three hour lunch, for god’s sake, to slap together a bullshit compromise that is stunning in its unprincipled expediency. It trashes democracy itself, while maximizing divisiveness.

So what did he accomplish? Disenfranchising millions of voters -- check. Putting the Democrats on the same moral plane with the GOP on that score - check. Letting the family's dirty laundry flap around in the breeze for the whole town to see -- check. Renting out a theater on Broadway, papering the house and staging... Waiting for Guffman. Check.

Nice, Howard.

Update:

Anglachel captures the state of play: "A committee of people, behind closed doors and under pressure from a specific candidate to shore up his crumbling support, has functionally declared Michigan's votes null and void and has reallocated the delegates to suit themsleves. The will of the people was considered advisory, not definitive, and the will of the committee was substituted."